Beneath the waves off of Cayman Brac
I went on another wonderful vacation to the Cayman Islands. This time I traveled with my fellow Orlando Reef Divers to the sister island of Cayman Brac which lies around 90 miles west of Grand Cayman.
Day 0 - 5/24/24 - To Miami
After working all day, I loaded up Bubba and dropped him off at the boarding facility which I called his summer camp. I then hightailed it down to Miami dodging the crazy drivers to reach the hotel for a night. Did attempt to get dinner at Jersey Mike's as I was craving a cheesesteak but they were out of bread. Otherwise, the day was uneventful.
Day 1 - 5/25/24 - To Cayman Brac
The day started normally and we gathered and made our way through the airport to our gate. We had plenty of time at the airport and the flight was delayed a bit. Eventually, we boarded and flew directly to Cayman Brac. After landing, shuttling to the resort, checking in, and having a bit of dinner I decided to walk around the snagged a couple of photos.
Day 2 - 5/26/24 - Buccaneer, Tombstone, & Elkhorn Forest
We got up early, grabbed breakfast, and congregated out our boat, the "Little Sister". That is where we met our crew of Captain Jucky and dive masters Ethan and Richard. They briefed us on how the week was going to go, safety, and whatnot. We then hit our first two dive sites, Buccaneer and Tombstone. We returned for lunch and then headed back out to the boat for our afternoon dive at Elkhorn Forest. This is pretty much the schedule for every day so for the rest of the days I'll just list the dive sites and anything extra that might have popped up.
Day 3 - 5/27/24 - Knuckles Wall, Turtle Alley, & End of Island
Night 3 - 5/27/24 - Lighthouse Reef
This was the only night dive I did all week. I and 3 others from the club joined quite a few people from the resort aboard the "Ocean Sister" to hit Lighthouse Reef (which was located just off from the resort. The dive was pretty good.
Day 4 - 5/28/24 - Airport Wall, Lobster Pot, & Tarpon Reef
Day 5 - 5/29/24 - Randy's Gazebo on Bloody Bay Wall & Eagle Ray Round-up on Little Cayman then Fisheries back on Cayman Brac
This was our only trip over to Little Cayman and it's world-famous Bloody Bay Wall. Our Afternoon dive was back on a reef off of Cayman Brac
Day 6 - 5/30/24 - The Tibbetts, Preacher's Barge, & Sgt Major
The Captain Keith Tibbetts is a Russian Destroyer that was sold to the Cayman Islands by the Cubans to make an artificial reef. Preacher's Barge was another wreck that was sunk to make an artificial reef but hasn't faired as well as the Tibbetts. Sgt Major is the house reef of the resort. This was also my 300th* dive! At night we played trivia at the bar hosted by Richard our dive master. Our team won (with a little bribing).
Day 7 - 5/31/24 - Cemetery Wall & Treehouse
Our last day of diving sadly. Cemetery Wall was actually my true 300th dive as my dive computer's numbering for my dives was off due to a dive last year where it counted the same dive as two dives. Oops. There was no afternoon dive due to needing a certain amount of surface time before boarding our flight home. Our last night we had an outdoor BBQ.
Day 8 - 6/1/24 - The Voyage Home
Luckily, one of the other members of the club mentioned that flights had changed during the week so I looked at my email and sure enough, my flights had moved earlier. I was supposed to leave at 8:30 am but ended up being 7 am. I was up at 4:30 am and not happy about it. The flights were rather uneventful even though I was given the dread SSSS on my boarding passes and therefore had a bunch more security checks. Everything went smoothly with the flights back to Miami. We had to wait way too long for the shuttle bus back to the hotel where the cars were located but that was fine. The drive back was uneventful but harrowing dealing with the South FL traffic. I finally made it to Oviedo and reunited with my pup picking him up from his summer camp. He was happy but tired. I felt the same.
The Aftermath
I ended up getting a pretty painful swimmer's ear infection. I went to a walk-in clinic later Sunday evening and was able to get anti-biotic drops for my ear. It was excruciating for about 4 days but seems to be cleared up now that it is a week later.
